Delahunty U St Thomas
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an 11 23
the final day of a weeklong trial in a challenge to former President Donald Trump’s constitutional eligibility to seek office again began with a protracted dispute over how much expertise an expert witness called by Trump’s legal team really had.
Robert Delahunty, a retired law professor and legal commentator who acknowledged he’d never before given expert testimony on any subject in court, took the stand Friday morning in a case brought by six Colorado voters who allege that Trump must be barred from the 2024 presidential ballot by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The Civil War-era clause prohibits anyone who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” from holding office in the United States. Plaintiffs argue Trump “engaged” in insurrection as part of the Jan. 6 attack.
Trump’s attorneys called on Delahunty, they told Denver District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace, as a witness with expertise in “interpreting legal historical documents,” and to rebut testimony earlier in the week from Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliocca, an expert on 19th-century constitutional history who has written multiple law review articles on Section 3’s application.
Friday’s trial proceedings began with several hours of direct testimony from Delahunty, whose loquacious answers had to be interrupted repeatedly by Wallace and Trump attorney Scott Gessler. Wallace overruled strong objections from plaintiffs’ attorneys to the admission of Delahunty as an expert witness on the subject of the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, which Trump’s team justified on the basis of Delahunty’s 16 years of teaching constitutional law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
“Teaching a first-year law school course does not mean that he’s made scholarly contributions” to research on the history and interpretation of Section 3, said Jason Murray, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
“Professor Delahunty has expertise in reviewing historical documents and applying them to constitutional provisions,” Wallace said in denying a motion to exclude the testimony. “His lack of scholarly contribution to Section 3 in particular, I don’t think excludes him from testifying on the opinions that he’s testifying to today.”
In his testimony on Wednesday, Magliocca cited multiple definitions of “engaging in insurrection” that were detailed in legal opinions from the 1860s, including any “overt and voluntary act, done with the intent of aiding or furthering” an insurrection, as well as an act “by speech or by writing (that) incited others to engage in rebellion.”
But Delahunty, while conceding that some of those opinions were “certainly good evidence” for the plaintiffs’ interpretation, said his interpretation of the historical record differed from Magliocca’s.
“I think ‘engage in insurrection’ has a more restricted meaning than he supposes,” Delahunty said.
An ’officer of the United States’?}:
Among the many prominent Trump allies affiliated with the Claremont Institute is attorney John Eastman, a key architect of the former president’s scheme to block congressional certification of the results of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021. Eastman has been indicted alongside Trump for an alleged conspiracy to overturn the election by prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia.
In addition to disputing the definition of “engaging in insurrection,” Delahunty also appeared to an endorse an argument made by Trump supporters that Section 3’s reference to “officers of the United States” does not include the president.
“What’s your opinion on Professor Magliocca’s conclusion that the phrase ‘officer of the United States,’ as used in Section 3, includes the president and vice president of the United States?” Gessler asked.
“I disagree with that conclusion,” Delahunty answered. “I looked into that question more, and I was persuaded that he was really wrong. I think that term is, in essence, a term of art and had a specialized meaning.”
But under questioning from Murray, Delahunty maintained that he “took no position” on the question, which he called “disputed among scholars.”
}:
Murray pointed to a commentary written by Delahunty for The Federalist, a conservative website, in August. In that article, Delahunty wrote of Section 3: “Although it does not explicitly refer to presidents or presidential candidates, comparison with other constitutional texts referring to ‘officer(s)’ supports the interpretation that it applies to the presidency too.”
:{:{“You wrote that article in August of this year, before you were hired by Donald Trump as a paid expert in this case, right?” asked Murray. “Since the time you wrote that article in The Federalist, you’ve been paid about $60,000 by Donald Trump for your work in this case?”}:
“Yes,” Delahunty replied.
Concluding testimony
Delahunty also questioned whether the clause’s ban on office-holding is, as supporters of the plaintiffs’ case maintain, “self-executing,” meaning that congressional action is not required to bar a candidate from office.
The lack of specific federal legislation implementing Section 3’s provisions, Delahunty said, “should, if only for reasons of prudence … lead a court to abstain from deciding what that phrase means, and toss the ball over to Congress.”
Delahunty’s testimony drew a pointed question from Wallace.
“Do you have examples of situations in which a court has basically said, ‘The Constitution is too hard for me to interpret, therefore I’m going to let Congress tell me what it means?’” she asked. “In general, I think that’s exactly the job of the court, to interpret the Constitution.”
“No, I don’t have case law to cite,” Delahunty said. “It approaches the question of whether Section 3 is self-executing. It goes more to that.”
Other concluding testimony on Friday included the questioning of Tim Heaphy, the former chief investigating counsel for the nine-member House of Representatives select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack. The admission of many of that committee’s findings as evidence in the 14th Amendment case has been disputed at length by Trump’s legal team, who allege that the panel was politically motivated and didn’t allow for an “adversarial” process through which evidence could be presented and challenged.
Under questioning, Heaphy defended the committee’s work as “fair and impartial,” repeatedly dismissing Gessler’s implications that it was compromised by the fact that its members, who included seven Democrats and two Republicans, had been highly critical of Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6 and voted to impeach him over “incitement” of the attack a week later.
“It was the hypothesis that began the investigation, in the form of the impeachment proceedings,” Heaphy said. “We tested it, as you always do in an investigation, against other facts as they emerged, and it never changed.”
Following the conclusion of witness testimony, the trial ended shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday. The court will reconvene to hear closing arguments on Nov. 15, with Wallace expected to issue her ruling by Nov. 17.
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Apr
13
2023
Thursday
12:30 p.m.
CDT
Concerns About Corruption at the FBI
St. Thomas-MN Student Chapter
University of St. Thomas School of Law
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Speakers:
Robert J. Delahunty
Sponsors:
St. Thomas (Minneapolis) Student Chapter
In-Person Event
A Tribute to Justice Scalia
This event has concluded.
Mar
1
2016
Tuesday
12:00 a.m.
CDT
A Tribute to Justice Scalia
St. Thomas
.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Speakers:
Thomas C. Berg • Teresa Stanton Collett • Robert J. Delahunty • Michael Stokes Paulsen
more
Sponsors:
St. Thomas (Minneapolis) Student Chapter
In-Person Event
Drones and Foreign Policy
This event has concluded.
Mar
17
2014
Monday
12:00 a.m.
Drones and Foreign Policy
Speakers:
Robert J. Delahunty
Topics:
International & National Security Law
Sponsors:
Penn State Dickinson Student Chapter • Penn State Law-University Park Student Chapter
In-Person Event
Presidential Non-Enforcement and the Rule of Law: The Obama Administration, the DREAM Act, and the Take Care Clause
This event has concluded.
Feb
3
2014
Monday
5:45 p.m.
Presidential Non-Enforcement and the Rule of Law: The Obama Administration, the DREAM Act, and the Take Care Clause
Sheppard Mullin 4 Embarcadero Center, 17th Floor San Francisco
Speakers:
Robert J. Delahunty
Sponsors:
San Francisco Lawyers Chapter
In-Person Event
Tocqueville and Democratic Despotism
This event has concluded.
Feb
3
2014
Monday
12:00 a.m.
Tocqueville and Democratic Despotism
Speakers:
Robert J. Delahunty
Topics:
Religious Liberties
Sponsors:
California - Berkeley Student Chapter
A Gentleman and a Scholar - Newsroom | University of St. Thomas
A Gentleman and a Scholar. By Andrew Ratelle '10 J.D. School of Law professor Robert Delahunty brings expertise from far and wide to our university. Professor Robert Delahunty's career as an academic tracks a history of success that spans two continents, four decades and some of the most prestigious institutions in the English-speaking world.
- ### St. Thomas Lawyer University News Official news from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. St. Thomas 2025 Five-year strategic plan. Faith & Mission ... The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity; People & Culture. President's Office; ... The spring 2023 issue of St. Thomas School of Law magazine features stories about Minnesota Supreme Court Justice ...
Robert Delahunty - Wikipedia
Harvard University ( JD) Robert J. Delahunty is an American legal scholar. He is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [1] From 1989 to 2003, he worked in the Office of Legal Counsel. During his tenure there, he cowrote several legal opinions with John Yoo relating to interrogation, detention, and ...
UST's Robert Delahunty talks about his law career Wednesday
Posted on September 24, 2007 By St. Thomas Newsroom UST's Robert Delahunty talks about his law career Wednesday The Pre-Law Society will host a discussion with UST School of Law faculty member Robert Delahunty at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the auditorium, Room 126, John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts.
Faculty and Staff | School of Law | University of St. Thomas
The faculty members at the University of St. Thomas School of Law are leaders in their fields academically, but also receive consistent praise for accessibility and teaching. Our professors influence students through the classroom, other scholars through writing in scholarly journals and books, and the law through work in the courts.
Robert Delahunty at the University of St. Thomas | Coursicle UST
Robert Delahunty at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Saint Paul, Minnesota has taught: LAWS 605 - Constitutional Law, LAWS 837 - International Law, LAWS 950 - Supervised Resrch & Writing, LAWS 635 - Torts, LAWS 836 - Int'l Human Rights Law, LAWS 920 - Law Review, LAWS 928 - Jour. Of Law And Public Policy.
University of St. Thomas - Minnesota
Inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition, St. Thomas educates students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully to advance the common good. The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota offers 150+ undergraduate majors and minors, plus graduate programs in business, engineering, law ...
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alexander Hamilton famously predicted that the judiciary would be "the least dangerous" branch of government. How's that working out?
The Supreme Court stands as arbiter over a country increasingly unable to govern itself. Americans can't agree on the meaning of the Constitution or even the rule of law. Are the nine high priests enthroned in their marble temple the saviors of the Republic or the pallbearers of democracy? Are they defenders of the Constitution as written or super-legislators who make law from the bench? What did the Founders envision when they vested the "judicial Power" in "one supreme Court"?
John Yoo, a professor of law at UC Berkeley, and Robert J. Delahunty, a fellow at the Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life, provide the answers with an incisive reading of the law and constitutional history. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court explains:
- The turbulent history of the court's early years, and the eventual triumph of "judicial supremacy"
- The Bill of Rights: how the Court has defined free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms
- The Court's notorious rulings and how they were overturned—from Dred Scott to Roe v. Wade
- Why "court-packing" is a constant temptation for Democratic presidents
- The Supreme Court's best and worst justices—and what qualities distinguished them
- The future of the Supreme Court: Will it be the rubber stamp of corrupt administrations or the ultimate watchdog protecting our nation's liberties?
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court offers a penetrating and irreverent account of the justices—ideologues and cowards, geniuses and mediocrities, all of them thoroughly human—and a fascinating analysis of a Court that has swung like a pendulum from preserving the Republic to undermining government by the people and back to defending the Constitution. Sprightly, informative, and powerfully argued, this book is guaranteed to give the reader a deeper understanding of America's most powerful judicial body.
ggl 11 23
[### John Yoo and Robert Delahunty
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › delahuntyandyoo](https://thefederalist.com/author/delahuntyandyoo/)
Dec 7, 2022 — John Yoo is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, Nonresident ...
Missing: st saint thomas
[### YOO - Berkeley Law
Berkeley Law
https://www.law.berkeley.edu › resources › cvs](https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/resources/cvs/Yoo.pdf)
Thomas University Law School, Minneapolis, MN (Nov. 16,. 2005) ... Law and the War on Terrorism, Federalist Society, University of San Francisco Law School, San.
47 pages
[### Robert J. Delahunty
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com › citations](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XnNUIGEAAAAJ&hl=en)
Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law - Cited by 1506 ... Federalism beyond the water's edge: State procurement sanctions and foreign ...
[### Federalism and Polarization by Robert J. Delahunty
Social Science Research Network
https://papers.ssrn.com › sol3 › papers](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=979848)
by RJ Delahunty · Cited by 10 — Robert J. Delahunty. University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota). Abstract. Some commentators believe that American society and politics ...
Missing: saint yoo
[### Robert J. Delahunty's research works | University of St. ...
ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net › scientific-contributions](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Robert-J-Delahunty-2163476610)
In Charters, Compacts, and Tea Parties: The Decline and Resurrection of a Delegation View of the Constitution, Professor Edward A. Fallone argued that after ...
[### Saving Originalism
University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository
https://repository.law.umich.edu › cgi › viewcontent](https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1214&context=mlr)
by RJ Delahunty · 2015 · Cited by 22 — Delahunty & John Yoo, Saving Originalism, 113 MICH. L. REV. 1081 (2015) ... * Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law. ** Emanuel S ...
[### "Federalism and Polarization" by Robert J. Delahunty
University of St. Thomas
https://ir.stthomas.edu › ustjlpp › vol1 › iss1](https://ir.stthomas.edu/ustjlpp/vol1/iss1/8/)
by RJ Delahunty · 2007 · Cited by 10 — Delahunty, Federalism and Polarization, 1 U. St. Thomas J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 63 (2007). Download.
Missing: saint yoo
[### John Yoo
Hoover Institution
https://www.hoover.org › profiles › john-yoo](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/john-yoo)
He held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Trento in Italy, and he has also been a visiting professor at Keio Law School in Japan, ...
[### John C. Yoo
SourceWatch
https://www.sourcewatch.org › index.php › John_C](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_C._Yoo)
Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, 1993-present. Professor of Law. 1999-present (leave of absence 2001-2003). Acting Professor of ...
[### Why students protested at St. Thomas' law school
MPR News
https://www.mprnews.org › story › 2010/10/08 › why...](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/10/08/why-students-protested-at-st-thomas-law-school)
Oct 8, 2010 — ... Thomas law professor Robert Delahunty, and University of California-Berkeley law professor John Yoo — whose legal memos to the Bush ...
[### The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com › Books](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-the-supreme-court-john-yoo/1142487062)
... Yoo, Robert J. Delahunty John Yoo. View More ... He has held the LeJeune Chair of Law at the University of St Thomas Law School in Minneapolis and published ...
$21.99 · 30-day returns
[### A Two-Front War
Scholarship@Cornell Law
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu › viewcontent](https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3081&context=clr)
by S Prakash · 2007 · Cited by 13 — t Herzog Research Professor of Law, University of San Diego. Yale Law School ... Delahunty & Yoo, supra note 1, at 158-66. 44. Prakash, supra note 3, at 83 n ...
[### Originalism's Obituary
Utah Law Digital Commons
https://dc.law.utah.edu › cgi › viewcontent](https://dc.law.utah.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=onlaw)
by C TerBeek · 2015 · Cited by 4 — (University of San Diego7 and George Mason8). These scholars are part of ... 88 Yoo and Delahunty, Saving Originalism, supra note 3 at 107. 89 MARTIN ...
[### Robert Delahunty
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Robert_Delahunty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Delahunty)
He is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... From 1989 to 2003, he worked in the Office of Legal Counsel. During ...
...[### obert J. Delahunty
The Federalist Society
https://fedsoc.org › contributors › robert-delahunty](https://fedsoc.org/contributors/robert-delahunty)
Robert J. Delahunty · Concerns About Corruption at the FBI · A Tribute to Justice Scalia · Drones and Foreign Policy · Presidential Non-Enforcement and the Rule ...
[### Robert Delahunty, Author at The Federalist
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › robert-delahunty](https://thefederalist.com/author/robert-delahunty/)
Jun 27, 2023 — Robert J. Delahunty is a Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life. His new book, The Politically ...
Missing: society | Show results with: society
[### Why Using The 14th Amendment To Get Trump Won't Hold ...
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › Latest](https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/25/why-twisting-the-14th-amendment-clause-to-get-trump-wont-hold-up-in-court/)
Aug 25, 2023 — Robert Delahunty is a Fellow of the Claremont Institute's Center for ... The Federalist Community. Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free ...
[### John Yoo and Robert Delahunty
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › delahuntyandyoo](https://thefederalist.com/author/delahuntyandyoo/)
Dec 7, 2022 — Robert Delahunty is a Fellow of the Claremont Institute's Center for ... The Federalist Community. Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free ...
[### Robert Delahunty and Teresa Collett
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › delahuntycollett](https://thefederalist.com/author/delahuntycollett/)
May 10, 2022 — Robert Delahunty is a Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the American Way of Life. Teresa S. Collett is a Professor of Law at the ...
[### Robert Delahunty and Joe Popularis
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › delahunty-and-pop...](https://thefederalist.com/author/delahunty-and-popularis/)
Mar 24, 2022 — Contributor. Robert J. Delahunty is a Fellow of the Claremont Institute's Center for the American Way of Life and the co-author with John C.
[### Willis L. Krumholz and Robert Delahunty
The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com › author › krumholzdelahunty](https://thefederalist.com/author/krumholzdelahunty/)
Robert Delahunty is a Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute Center for ... The Federalist Community. Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free, and ...
Missing: society | Show results with: society
[### Robert J. Delahunty
Hoover Institution
https://www.hoover.org › profiles › robert-j-delahunty](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/robert-j-delahunty)
It upheld freedom of speech; it affirmed that the power of the purse belongs to Congress, not the president; and it forbade racial discrimination by ...
[### Federalism and Polarization by Robert J. Delahunty
Social Science Research Network
https://papers.ssrn.com › sol3 › papers](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=979848)
by RJ Delahunty · Cited by 10 — Some commentators believe that American society and politics have become unusually - and dangerously - polarized ... Delahunty, Robert J., ...
[### Robert Delahunty Archives
Above the Law
https://abovethelaw.com › tag › robert-delahunty](https://abovethelaw.com/tag/robert-delahunty/)
Did You Attend Today's 'Killing Spree'? Federalist Society, Law Schools, Violence · Did You Attend Today's 'Killing Spree'?. If you're a law student, you ...